The Music or the Misery
by Human Customs Still Elude Me
Summary: We had all but forgotten the bleak, emotionless army of Homeworld. Maybe that was for the better. Maybe it spared our sanity. But when a second war dawns...well, maybe we wouldn't be two runts and a shield if we had remembered our roots. *Cursing warning*
1. Calm before the Storm

**Raven here. First SU fic, based mostly around my own headcanons, which are based around nothing, which is based around the void. Well, I guess that some of this take root in me noticing things after watching Jailbreak, Keeping it Together, and Keystone motel too many times, and me way overthinking situations..how dare StevenBomb 3.0 You Can(not) Return from the Depths of Emotional Cartoons.**

 **Enjoy what happens in my head at three in the morning-~-**

* * *

It all started when it snowed. Garnet would never be able to see that white fluff the same. None of them would, really. Not after what happened that day.

"Hey Pearl! Come check _this_ out!" Amethyst grabbed a nearby carrot originally intended for a snowman, and tacked it onto her nose. Nobody knows how it stuck. "Nag nag, my name is Pearl-" Suddenly, she found herself with a large(as in desk chair) amount of snow hitting her squarely in the face. Pearl smirked, looking kind of cold and very, very wet.

Amethyst spat out a chunk of ice. "Snow, I'm okay with, but ICE IS OUT OF BOU-"

A reasonably sized snowball hit her. Instead of Pearl, however, Garnet grinned at the small purple gem, arms crossed.

Thankfully, Steven interrupted what would've become a full-fledged war. "Uh...guys? Isn't it a little...uh...really really cold?

The three gems blinked at him. None of them were exactly...temperature sensitive.

"Well, I suppose it is a little cold..."

"Yeah, 'cause I'm buried in this stuff."

"Eh, it's a little warm."

"It's...negative five degrees, Garnet."

"Oh."

This was when things got strange.

Out of her peripheral vision, Garnet noticed a dull yellow blob in the otherwise gray sky. She turned all the way, lifting her glasses to make sure that it wasn't just an old leaf or some snow. Instead she was completely sure of it.

"...That's a ship," she muttered. Her voice was naturally quiet, and fear obscuring her sense of reason. Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst were talking loudly about temperature, and a quiet silent humming echoed through the snow-filled valley, barely audible at the base of the cliff. "Gems-" Garnet bit her lip. Ruby and Sapphire, instead of being only semi-conscious in the back of her mind, were practically panicking, front and center.

 _"Whatdowedowhatdowedowhatdowe-"_

 _"Ruby. Calm down. Please. We-"_

"Yes, Garnet?"

By some stroke of luck, they heard Garnet the second time.

Garnet wordlessly pointed towards the golden ship, rapidly growing nearer. She was dimly aware of Steven's concerned question, Pearl's whispered, "Oh no...", or even Amethyst letting a curse word slip out.

No warning. No time to prepare. They could only stand and watch as the sleek, streamlined ship neared the minuscule town. Garnet's hands shook as she realized just how huge the ship was. It had to be three times as big as Beach City. It was clearly a large-scale operation.

And then, suddenly, it stopped. The low hum continued, but otherwise, silence fell over the land.

A small drone the size of an average minivan came out of doors that were probably huge, but from the beach looked like a tiny book. She had doubts Steven could even see the pod from where he stood.

It felt like an eternity;standing there with her gauntlets reflecting the golden light that washed out what felt like the whole world, Pearl on her right, Amethyst at her left, Steven cowering behind them. Ruby and Sapphire were still freaking out. It was all Garnet could do to stay fused...to stay herself.

At long last the pod reached the beach. It landed at least thirty feet away, but the sand still hit them hard enough to blow Steven back a little.

The pod doors slid back, and Garnet had to bite her lip to keep from dropping an f-bomb in front of Steven.

Three familiar gems stepped from the pod. The first was at least seven feet tall, with scarlet skin, burgundy hair in a pixie, with bangs covering the edge of her eyes. She wore something similar to Peridot and Jasper's uniform, albeit with very short shorts. The second figure was a bit taller, with pale blue skin, wavy white hair falling mere inches above the ground. She wore the same, only with low heels. Her hair fell before her eyes. The third gem wasn't much taller than Amethyst, but was very thin and frail looking, with pale green hair in one braid behind. She had on a white sundress with a yellow-green diamond printed on her chest. Overall she looked like a young girl.

Garnet lifted her gauntlets into a fighting stance. "Damn it. The Elites."

The blue gem took one look at the ragtag group of gems...

And burst out laughing.

"Seriously? That _thing_ it here? Both of them? Fused? Honestly, this is just plain hilarious."

The red gem smirked. "True. Five thousand years, and we finally get payback against this traitorous coward."

The green gem gave an innocent smile. If it weren't for the gem glinting on her left shoulder, she look like a human child.

Pearl glanced over at Garnet. She was trembling. It was clear how point-blank terrified she was of this mysterious trio.

Garnet barely managed to open her mouth enough to speak. She was astonished at the commanding tone. "Leave. This is not your planet. You're not welcome here...you monsters." Garnet stiffened. The footsteps of a fourth gem clicked quietly, then fell silent as she stepped onto the sand. Her face was hidden in shadow.

"Hmh-hm-hm-ehm..."

"That laugh...It can't be..." Garnet whispered. The words barely left her mouth as the four gem stepped into the light.

Yellow skin. Pointy hair in two spikes. High, pointed shoulder pads. Heels glinting in the white-gold light. A four-faceted gem embedded in her chest.

Garnet and Pearl took a step back each. They both knew this gem.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my old pets...Ruby and Sapphire...and of course, the first defective Pearl. Some Kindergarten fool, and a traitorous puppeteer."

Yellow Diamond stood before them, smirking, her gleaming golden eyes painfully obviously showing her thoughts of the Crystal Gems.


	2. Relative Immortality

**Uh...sorry for the possible feels?**

* * *

Pearl could feel Garnet panicking beside her. Steven clung to the fusion's leg, the cold long forgotten. Pearl had only seen Yellow Diamond one before, in her entire life-She didn't know who they were, but the blue and red gems looked painfully familiar. The green one did as well, though she knew that was a common appearannce for weak gems.

"Well, well, well. A couple of misfits is all that's left of Rose's army? What a shame."

Pearl could feel Garnet flinch as Yellow Diamond spoke. Odd. Only the oldest of gems had ever met Yellow Diamond in person. She knew that Ruby and Sapphire were older than her, but not by much...right? She had heard rumors of two gems that were complete failures, the first failures, back on homeworld. Something clicked in the back of her mind as she glanced at Garnet once more.

"I believe that even Rose Quartz has perished, sir. The one clinging to the freak's leg has her abilities to some xetent, but we have reason to believe that it is a completely different person from the Rose Quartz we know." At last, the green one spoke. Her voice was smooth, efficiennt...and completely terrifying.

Yellow Diamond nodded. "Thank you, Jade." She turned to face the Crystal Gems once more. "Now, for some...unfinished business."

"Don't you ever let things go?" Garnet said coldly. Literally. There was ice definetely not from the snow on her gauntlets.

"I suppose not. But you hardly have the right to say that, eh?" Yellow diamond reasponded. She boredly flicked her hand, and the long-haired blue gem materialized a sword in her right hand, cutting the ground in to tiny bits. Pearl and Amethyst were knocked to the side, but Garnet merely lost her balance. However, this was the perfect opening.

The blue gem lunged, sword held before her.

Garnet ducked, grabbed steven by the front of the shirt, and tossed him to relative safety. She stood up, lifting her gauntlets in front of her face. It was barely an adequate defence but it would do for now.

The blue gem stayed ready, but instead of attacking again, simply stood before Garnet, sword ready.

"You are a Garnet, correct? Fused out of the other Sapphire, and Ruby?"

"That is true." Garnet kept her voice flat.

"The ones I used to...teach a lesson to, after work each day?"

Garnet nodded. "That is true as well."

It would be more accurate to say that Sapphire was the one speaking.

The blue gem smiled. "Very good. I won't have a problem finishing up that lesson today, now that I'm certian. And no one would lie about being those weak shit gems." At this, Garnet was the one who attacked. The blue gem grabbed her upper arm and threw her as hard as she could. Garnet managed to land on her feet. There wasn't a scartch on either of them.

"Fool."

Yellow Diamond stepped past the blue gem, seemingly sick of standin g still. She stepped forward so that she was clearly within striiking range of Garnet.

"Freak."

"Dictator."

"You've always called me that. I've never seen the problem."

"I don't exactly see the problem of being a freak either."

"You wouldn't."

"What, do you have an existential crisis over this or something?"

Yellow Diamond stiffed, her anger clear.

"I could have both of you shattered for that."

"So you don't do your own dirty work anymore? have you gone soft or something?"

"No. Instead I think I'll shatter you now." She glanced over her shoulder. "Elites-take out the other three."

Garnet took a step forward.

"Are you insane? You need don't an Elite to fight a Pearl!"

Yellow Diamond eyed Garnet warily. "There are others in your Ragtag group."

"You-Pearl is the strongest out of those three!"

The pale yellow gem smirked. "I'm not killing them. I'm just getting them out of the way."

Garne took a few steps forwards so that there was only around three feet between them. "You haven't changed."

Yellow Diamond summoned her weapon-a sword-from the gem on her chest. Garnet took one step forward...and that proved to be her greatest mistake. Yellow Diamond flicked the blade of her sword...and the relatively small movement opened a deep wound on Garnet's chest, going diagonally across. Garnet took a step back, as if in disbelief, and collapsed. The red cloud of smoke was all too telling of what had happened.

Pearl looked of the red gem's shoulder. Instead of the relieably strong figure, there were two small gems on the ground, one red, one blue. But that barely mattered in the yellow light. Steven was hiding behind a piece of rock that had fallen from the temple, a cut on his righgt cheek.

Everyone saw what had happened.

Everyone saw Yellow Diamond step forward.

A crack sounded as her foot landed on the two gems. There wasn't much to say as the realization sunk in. Steven gave a small whimper.

"We've done the first thing we came for. Now onto the next matter of business, the three whose ship crashed thirteen months ago..." The homeworld gems wasted no time in leaving. Jade stooped to the ground, frowning. She picked up Ruby and Sapphire's gems, bubbled them, and chased after her three comrades.

Pearl stared at the spot where Garnet disappeared. This couldn't be. It was impossible. Garnet would have told her. She had futurevision. As the ship pulled away, none of the gems moved. How could Garnet just...die? No warning to the ship coming. This peaceful snow day had turned into a living nightmare. Now they didn't have her gem shards.

Two leaders. Lost within two decades.

They were finished.


	3. The Value Of Earth

**I forgot profreading the first time I uploaded this...I'M SORRY. PLEASE FORGIVE ME.  
**

* * *

Steven stared unseeingly at the open book in his lap. Ever since the Homeworld gems had came two days ago, the entire city had been buzzing with activity. Every alien enthusiast, conspiracy theorist, science fiction author, paramornal investigator, NASA employee, and a noticeable amount of government officials seemed to be in the tiny town. Reporters quickly found out that there were people living near where the ship had landed.

Government officials came to the door. Reporters came to the door. Friends came to the door. He was polite. He pretended to be cheerful. He said that Pearl and Amethyst were "Busy", when in reality he had no idea where they were.

He wished he could just disappear like them, to their own places to hide. To the places long forgotten by humanity and nature alike.

But he didn't want to worry his friends. Connie, especially. His father, too, although he was trying to comfort Steven. He came quick to realize that he needed to be alone.

Another knock at the door.

"Come in. It's unlocked."

Steven blinked in confusion when he saw who was at the door this time. Just a woman in a pale pink suit, a white Oxford shirt, and a pale purple tie. She looked late twenties to mid-thirties, clearly trying hard to be official. The only odd thing about her was that she was an albino-and that even that was normal for Steven.

"I've come to speak to you, Steven Universe."

Steven blinked. "Wait, What's your name?"

The woman smiled. "Just call me Major O."

Steven was starting to be freaked out by her. That smile was a bit too pleasant and kind for anyone to believe. Those blue eyes were too smooth and reflective to be real.

"Now then, I have a question to ask you." She sat down beside Steven and leaned forward, putting her forearms on her knees. "How many fatalities?"

Steven found himself forced to answer. He didn't want to, but her smooth, kind voice forced him.

"Two."

This was when he saw the yellow diamond on her tie. what he thought had been a trick of the light was true-there was a gem embedded on her forehead, partially covered with blue-tinted hair.

"Oh, so you've figured it out, then, you foolish child." The gem smiled faintly. "My name is White Opal. Special Informants Unit. The fifth gem on the ship you saw. Now that that the the Dogs-pardon me-the Elites are off finding the Peridot, our Informant, and the Beast, I get to deal with you."

Steven couldn't tear his eyes away from that ice-cold gaze. White Opal lifted her hands, interlaced her fingers, and rested her chin upon the shelf she created.

"Let's get to business. I am here as the sole representative of Yellow diamond. Here to deliver a message to the assumed heir of Rose Quartz. Specific sources have informed Homeworld, Yellow Diamond sector, that you are the half...human offspring of the former Homeworld general."

Steven nodded mutely. He had a gut feeling that speaking would make the situation even worse. If that was even possible.

"This is a declaration of war." White Opal stood, slipping her right hand inside her jacket. She produced a small metal square, and handed it to Steven. "Press the red circle. It's a holographic display mechanism.

The Homeworld gem left, shutting the door behind her. Steven suddenly realized that he hadn't blinked during the entire time she had been present.

He heard the Warp Pad activate. He heard Pearl call his name. She sounded tired, scared, and sad. He heard her step up behind him. He kept staring at the closed door. Suddenly, the realization sunk in.

Without Garnet, the Crystal Gems were leaderless, weak, and there were still Homeworld Gems on Earth. At least two were overwhelmingly powerful. One was persuasive. The other two gave off a sense of strength. The so-called "Defenders of Earth" were destroyed.

"Pearl...did Mom have some sort of huge weapon that would drive away attacking armies?"

Pearl blinked, thrown off guard by the question. "Er, no. She believed that something like that was dishonorable, and something a liar would do. Your mother lied, but just to protect us from threats we would never realize-"

"Then she was wrong." Steven didn't know why he said it so quietly, as if it her bad to say something like that to the one who trusted Rose Quartz the most.

"Steven, I..." Pearl trailed off as Steven pressed the red button on the square. The hologram that came forth was simple and point-blank;

 _This is a declaration of war. No efforts will be spared in the offensive front.  
_

 _Homeworld_

 _Diamond Trinity Empire_

Pearl stared blankly at the message until it flickered and went out. Amethyst came in at some point, and left.

"This is..."

"Bad?"

"Worse than just bad. All we have is two runts and a shield."

Steven didn't take this as an insult. He understood. Amethyst was weak. Pearl needed orders to function. And Steven...all there was with him was a shield and Stevonnie.

Stevonnie...

He looked up at Pearl, who was still lost in thoght.

"Pearl, I have an idea."

* * *

 **There will be feels...in the FUTURE! Ufufufufufufufufufuf...  
**


	4. Just One Yesterday

**A/N: I have no excuse for the gap between uploads, but hey, I'm typo-free. Anyway, I suck at writing sad things, and WHEN IT RAINS COMES OUT TOMORROW, and also, this takes place in an alternate timeline where everything after Jailbreak is more spaced out timewise, and everything after Friend Ship didn't take place. Hence no alien living in their bathroom, and the thirteen month time reference.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"You want me to do _what?_ "

Steven grinned sheepishly. He knew this was ridiculous. That he was asking too much of Connie. However, he had to try. Pearl and Amethyst didn't agree with him. Garnet probably wouldn't-no, no, don't think about her. Focus on what's important in the moment.

"Yeah...I had a feeling you would say that."

Connie took a step towards him, her hands gracefully at her sides in an achingly familiar position. "No, I just-I want to help! I want to help protect Earth in whatever way I can. Please. I can lie to my parents. I have plenty of practice, right?" How was it possible to be so nice all the time?

"Thanks, Connie..." Steven's already faint smile faded completely. "But this is, like, really dangerous. That's gotta be a pretty big lie."

"Steven...I've been lying about a lot of stuff ever since I met you-Wait, no, that's a good thing! I had practically no free will!" Connie rested her hands on Steven's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Steven, lying isn't always a good thing. But it this case, I really do want to lie. If it benefits the world in any way, I would do anything."

Steven blinked, somewhere between surprise and fear.

"...Really?"

"Of course." Connie lifted her hands from his shoulders and took a step back. "Di you really think I would say anything else?"

Steven managed a forced smile, and stood up. "Er...do you think you could teach me how to sword fight? Pearl never..." He trailed off, realizing that it had only been a month and a half. Pearl probably barely even noticed that Steven was waiting during that time. To her, it probably only felt like a couple of days.

"Um...Do we even have two swords? I mean, there's your mother's sword, but I don't actually have one..." Connie asked, cutting herself short before it turned into a run-on sentence. "Um...I think that I might be able to convince Lion to take me to my mom's secret Armory." Steven responded thoughtfully, wondering if it was even possible for Lion to listen to him consistently.

"There's no time for that."

Both of them jumped at the sound of Pearl's voice. She had apparently came out of her room during their conversation. "Yellow Diamond and those other four gems are still out there searching for Malachite and Peridot. We have to take defensive measures. I just told Amethyst about the...situation."

"But how can we defend ourselves? Isn't Homeworld, like, super advanced?" Connie asked, seemingly concerned. She had heard Garnet mention Yellow Diamond being incredibly strong a couple months previously.

Pearl interlaced her fingers and shifted her weight entirely to her toes. "That is true. Homeworld was centuries ahead of Earth five millennia ago. I shudder to think of what that horrible plce is like now. Gems even advance technology faster than humans..."

Steven and Connie exchanged a panicked look. "But...we don't even have one year. How are we supposed to find something to fight them with?" Steven asked.

Pearl gave a small, worthless smile. "We have Opal. There's a possibility we have Rainbow Quartz. And we have Stevonnie. There's a small chance that one of those three can fight Yellow Diamond. Opal _is_ fairly strong, after all..."

They all knew there was no use even trying.

* * *

Almost a year passed.

The entire world was terrified. The huge, golden ship anchored over the Atlantic Ocean that nobody could get close to was clearly an omen of destruction, even to the unwitting humans. Pearl heard snatches of speeches from world leaders, low-level officials, even just that foolish man who had a crush on her. There was an attempted cover-up. The fishermen, navy, and even just passenger ships found out within a year.

Aside from that, life just...continued as normal around her. She had a feeling that Amethyst spent a lot of time at the Kindergarten nowadays. Steven and Connie were training constantly. And Pearl...trained. She stood on those water towers in her room, fighting holograms like there was no tomorrow. And odds are, there wouldn't be that many more. She didn't need Futurevision to see that the war was hopeless.

"Hey, P?"

She spun around, releasing the holograms before her. "Amethyst, wh-what are you doing here?"

Amethyst shrugged. "I dunno. Haven't seen you in a while, I guess. Uh, anyway, there was this stupid flood and Steven wants you to help clean up the beach. There was some Homeworld rubble and stuff, and he had and connie put up some signs to keep people out. You like cleaning, so I guess he was wanting to..."

Amethystt didn't say it. She didn't have to. Pearl stiffened slightly. "Tell him I appreciate the offer, but that I am busy."

"Sure, whatever." Amethyst turned around, and left the temple, leaving Pearl alone.

Pearl stared at her reflection in the water. Only then did she realize how tired she looked. As a reflex, she went down on one knee and projected an image of Rose from her gem.

"Oh, Rose. What do we do?"

The hologram spoke. This was an exchange from long ago. "We wait. Yellow Diamond cant hold off forever. She's bound to touch down at some point."

"But that could be in centuries! We just completely overcame our fuel problem, so she won't run out anytime soon. And Sapphire is being cryptic as usual, so we don't know if..."

Holo-Rose smiled faintly. "She will tell us if anything goes wrong. Nothing can happen to her, just so long as none of the Diamonds find her-her Mohs is a nine, after all."

"You're right...There aren't any other Corundums nearby, so even that isn't a threat."

As the hologram smiled, it faded away. Pearl sat back, pulling her knees to her chest.

"Oh, Rose. You were wrong. Now we've lost you...we've lost Garnet...We don't know what's going to happen...And it's impossible for me to be a leader in this horrible situation!" Pearl's whisper escalated to shout that echoed throughout the cavern. She covered her mouth in shock. She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Rose...Amethyst...Garnet...Steven..."

She lifted her eyes to the ceiling of her room.

"Ruby...Sapphire..."

* * *

Rain fell on the golden Homeworld ship. A tall blue gem with flowing white hair looked out the window of the small common area.

"...Boo!"

"I know it is you, Ruby."

The red gem behind her grinned. "Shoot. I am completely surprised about your knowledge, Sapphire."

Sapphire turned from the window. "Regulation requires all spoken words to be sincere. Ruby."

Ruby rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall. "Aw, c'mon. Can't you take a joke?" Sapphire stiffed. "Jokes are insincere, therefore disobeying regulation. As is your truly repulsive habit of...placing objects of organic matter with in your mouth and digesting."

Ruby blinked, clearly not understanding Sapphire's disgust. "Y'mean eating? I've told you this like twenty times in the past decade. You should remember."

Sapphire flushed angrily. "You little-If you make one more comment in that manner I will have you persecuted for disobeying regulation on a regular basis!"

"Elites."

The two arguing gems spun to face the voice directed at them. "Sir, I apologize," Sapphire said, paling abruptly.

Yellow Diamond waved a long fingered hand in disinterest. "I understand. I find other Diamonds quite infuriating, so I assume that mpst Corundums hate each other as well. Anyway, as this is, Opal has informed me of the situation of the current gem-controlled locations on this planet, and we have found the three gems who were stranded here."

Sapphire twitched her hands slightly. She seemed to know what would come next.

"We're moving out to attack Crystal Gem Base tomorrow."

* * *

 **R &R If you feel like it:3  
**


	5. The Mighty Fall

**Oh. My. How will I write the Cluster into this...**

* * *

It was midnight when the sky turned a sickening shade of yellow.

It was one when the ship was visible on the horizon.

It was two when Opal and Stevonnie stood on the beach. By a random stroke of bad luck, Connie had been able to convince her parents to let her stay the night with Steven. The four Homeworld gems from before, including Homeworld-Opal, stood on the beach, twenty feet away.

"Leave, Y-Yellow Diamond. You have no right being here."

Yellow Diamond raised an eyebrow. "We have given this planet time to regrow, replenish. It is time to restart gem production in that place the Humans call...erm,"

The small green gem muttered something to her superior.

"Yes, that's right. Rainforest. We will build a Kindergarten in that location. But first, we will...well, you shall see." Yellow Diamond flicked her hand boredly. "Go on, then, Ruby and Sapphire. You know what to do." She then took a step back as the two gems advanced towards the fusions. the Sapphire took Stevonnie. The Ruby(both Opal and Stevonnie cringed at the mention of the familiar names-there were other Rubies and Sapphires?) took Opal.

It was over in a flash.

Shield out, bow out, both shattered in an instant by the sheer brute force of the spiked gauntlets(again, Opal winced at the familiarity of the weapon) and the long blade. Pure fire laced through Ruby's gauntlets as she delivered a blow to Opal's midriff, poofing her instantly. An impressive feat, considering that Opal had a good seven feet on Ruby. Sapphire merely had to hit Stevonnie in the head with the butt of her sword. The two children hit the ground with a dull thud, both with a very faint bruise on their foreheads.

* * *

Yellow Diamond overlooked the scene. The two tiny gems in her own hand, the human and the...thing were being carried by the scruff of their necks by Ruby. Sapphire and Opal seemed disgusted by the two small beings in the hands of a gem they hated with all their being. Jade, however, kept that faint look of cheerful weakness that she always maintained.

Yellow Diamond? She kept the stoic demeanor of a leader, even as she bubbled the two gems-see? She was merciful.

Drat...she had sent them to her private office on Homeworld Orbit Station Three. Taking into account the predicted position of orbit around the main planet, even with light travel, faster than light travel(still considered mildly risky, even though they had been working on it for almost six thousand years), and small-scale time-warp teleportation(a recent one of Jade's abilities, very tiring and dangerous), it would still take almost a month to get there. It was barely more than a blink of the eye, but still...considering the current situation with Blue and Clear Diamond, both stronger than her with bigger armies, both her enemies, it was a massive leap of faith leaving her second-in-command, Topaz, in charge for over a year. She had the nasty feeling that her enemies would take the chance to attack her...

"Sir. Where should I put these...things?"

Yellow Diamond broke out of her thoughts just long enough to respond. "Containment Hold Two. We will be taking off soon. We haven't any time to spare. Blue Diamond is already taking measures to declare war."

Ruby nodded in understanding. "Yes, Sir."

Yellow Diamond waited a moment, then turned and went back in the ship.

* * *

Steven woke up in a dark gray cell. Connie was leaning over him, one of her hands wrapped tightly around one of his own.

"Steven! You're okay..." Connie moved back slightly to allow him to sit up. He blinked and rubbed his head. "Connie...what happened? Are you okay? Where's Opal?"

Connie bit her lip nervously. "I'm fine...but I don't know what happened to Opal. I think I saw some fire from my peripheral vision, but I don't..." She trailed off, averting her eyes from Steven's fearful expression.

"Don't worry, If they spared us, I'm sure they..."

Steven pulled his knees to his chest, tears appearing in the corners of his eyes. "You don't understand. Yellow Diamond crushed Garnet...Ruby and Sapphire without a second thought. She was smiling. _Smiling._ " Steven leaned back, bracing his hands on the cold steel flooring behind him. "What can we even do..."

Connie didn't know what to say. Steven was scared. She was scared. The world was scared. _Her_ world was scared. In danger.

"We fight like there's no tomorrow."

It was bold words, coming from a kid like her. The bookworm. The shy one. Well, so what. Her world was at stake. All she needed to do was defeat a second one.

Steven looked at her in surprise. She stood up and reached down with her right hand. "Come on. There's gotta be a way out of this place."

"Unfortunately for you clods, due to a freak mechanical accident, we have reached Homeworld's Orbit Station Three sooner than expected. You were...immobile and despondent for a totality of three days. In the mutant's case, four days. Our direction of takeoff seemed to affect the both of you rather...negatively."

The two children looked up. The tall green gem stared down at them with obvious disdain, her science-fictiony arms crossed in displeasure. Steven reacted poorly to the sight of her, showing clear alarm. "Peridot..."

Peridot gritted her teeth angrily and turned around, hurrying out of the...um...prison of some sort.

* * *

 _It is dark in this place. I am in my gem. I cannot regenerate. Time does not pass. I cannot see nor hear. I am truly trapped. What do I do?  
_

 _I can see the world unravel-the fear I feel is muted by this crushing emptiness. My gem is cracked- I cannot function. All I can do is wait. Wait to go home. Wait to wake up._

 _Wait to get out of this hell._

* * *

Pearl regenerated the second her bubble was popped. She stumbled when she landed-the view from the window before her was stunning. She didn't know where she was.

Then she saw the planet, very nearby.

Homeworld loomed, it's red-gray surface long dead. The cloudless sky showed the interlacing web of lights on the surface. Craters marred the surface. More than she remembered. Then a strong hand spun her around. For a second she thought it was Garnet, as the smooth surface of a trianglar faceted gem clamped down, hard, on her shoulder...but no. It was just the Sapphire from earlier. So that was where her gem was...no time for reminiscing now. The gem before her began to speak.

"Sir, the Pearl regenerated. Permission to dictate punishment as I see fit.

A voice spoke, the speaker hidden behind a high-back chair.

"Granted."

Pearl's eyes widened, realizing that punishment from a gem of nine mohs, to her 2.5...

 _Oh no._

* * *

 ** _Firstly, this chapter killed me to write. (Admittedly, a future chapter I have planned will kill me more, in a different way.) Secondly, in reponse to the guest reviewer Wolfie, No, the adorable bunnies haven't been brainwashed. The other Ruby/Sapphire, are just my theory on why the Ruby and Sapphire we know are clearly so weak. Thirdly(woah dude that's a word), HOW DO PEOPLE WRITE STEVEN-CENTRIC FICS WITHOUT DYING OF FRUSTRATION. Really though, I couldn't write a canon fic about him to save my life.  
_**


	6. The Beast in You

Before Pearl had time to summon her spear, the tall blue gem punched her in the chest, slamming her against the ugly yellow-gray wall. Pearl fell to her hands and knees, only to be kicked into the wall again, this time the Sapphire's heeled boot staying on her chest, pinning her to the wall. She could feel the sharpened point of the heel digging into her skin, slicing through the cloth of her shirt in moments.

"This is your long-due punishment, you defective tool."

Pearl reached up, grabbing Sapphire's ankle, attempting to force it back. The blue gem smirked in response.

"Sorry, but I'm stronger than the weak little failure of a Sapphire that you know. Although, hmm, you probably don't know her at all..." She leaned down pinxhing Pearls face in her ice-cold grip. "Do you, since she's always fused with the other failure? Into the being that is, overall, still depressingly weak?"

Something in Pearl that had been drawn too tight over the past millennia snapped at this comment. "Don't talk shit about my dead friends, you-"

"Sapphire. Punishment has been ruled out. escort the traitor to her temporary holding cell."

Sapphire straightened up, removing her foot from Pearl's, now stained red, chest. "Yes sir."

Before Pearl dropped to the steel floor, the blue gem grabbed her by the front of her shirt, dragging her out into the long, rounded hallway. Every few yards or so, they went past doors marked with words that Pearl couldn't fully understand, which was rather odd, considering that in the three thousand years she had spent on Homeworld, the language hadn't changed a bit, and according to Rose and Garnet, the language only fully changed every dozen millennia or so...

No matter. Sapphire dragged Pearl into a round common area roughly ten minutes after they left the cold office. judging by the location of the windows in Yellow Diamond's office, the direction of the hallway, and the time taken for transport, the ship was probably a mile long. No, not ship-Orbit Station. This was probably the one that had been under construction during the war.

Suddenly, Sapphire stopped walking. Pearl soon realized why.

There was a tight-packed crowd of roughly fifty gems grouped in the middle, around a central post. Pearl couldn't see what exactly what they were looking at-she had fallen to her knees the second they had stopped moving. Sapphire started dragging her again, and Pearl had no choice but to stand up. The crowd seemed to part in fear as Sapphire approached. Some gems only looked at the ground, fear showing in every tiny movement they made. Some looked at Pearl with pity in their eyes. Some shot her dirty looks. Others only showed confusion, maybe some recognition. Not surprising. Many of these gems were low-use servant class, most of them with cracked gems.

"What is the meaning of this? Why are none of you at your stations?"

A Pearl with a badly cracked gem pointed wordlessly to a sign tacked onto the central post. Pearl could actually read this one-it was in a more basic syllybary-pictogram combonation instead of the complicated official-use alphabet-syllabary combination.

Sapphire whistled in surprise. "My, my, my. What a little shit that idiot is."

 _All prisoners of war to be escorted to Homeworld, Section Thirteen. All staff and/or officers to evacuate this severely damaged station immediately. Message will be repeated over intercom._

As if on cue, the message was immediately spoken over a crackly, damaged intercom in a distorted, but familiar voice. Probably a Spessartine-weak,but very durable and overall decent servants. No wonder the station was damaged-Pearl noticed now that it hadn't changed in over six thousand years...

Sapphire gritted her teeth angrily. "Irksome. You heard the traitor forced into service-report to evacuation decks. Hurry. I have to inform my fellow superior officers." As the other Homeworld Gems flooded away, the Sapphire looked down at Pearl. "Well, I guess I'll have to take you and the other defective runt to Homeworld. Oh, stop grimacing. It's not like I hurt you badly enough to force regeneration. And get rid of that star on your chest, for your own safety as a prisoner of war."

Pearl spoke up quietly. "If Yellow Diamond were shattered, would you get rid of the diamond on your uniform if I told you to?"

"So Pink is dead, hm? What a shame. I was looking forward to handing her gem shards to the Fusion Experimentation Researchers."

"Pink?"

Sapphire shrugged, grabbed Pearl again, and dragged her down a much more decrepit hallway. They stopped at a completely spotless door. Sapphire wrenched it open and walked inside letting it slam behind her.

"-So then Yellow Diamond, in all her glory, stepped on those failed experiment's gems!"

"Ruby, I hate to interrupt your storytelling, but you have told that twice already."

Pearl's lips parted in surprise at the gems before her. There was the Ruby, Jade, and Opal from before, but then there were other gems, all of them clearly very strong. There were a few Sapphires and Rubies of varying colors, a very jaded Iolite, a Coral about to make a sarcastic comment, probably, and one very scratched-up Pyrope. Pearl felt a pang of nostalgic sympathy for the poor thing. Pyropes, and Garnets in general, were always strong and intelligent-but got ground into the dust by the very small Elite Force. One or two was always there, but they were always shattered in training accidents. The Garnet she had known was just unusually hard in the Mohs department and overall very strong.

The second Sapphire spoke, everyone fell silent except for the Jade and the Ruby. Jade said, "Hmm?" In a rather threateningly sweet manner, and the Ruby asked, "What?" In an angry manner.

"They're evacuating the station for emergency repairs. We are to leave immediately."

Jade cocked her head to the side. "Oh, is that all? Couldn't you have warned us beforehand, since you can see the future?"

Sapphire stiffened. "I see possibilities. Not definite outcomes."

Pearl watched the exchange. Unlike Garnet and Lapis, she couldn't sense other gems very well, but she could tell that most of the gems in this room were fairly powerful-all, of course, drowned out by the overwhelming power of the Sapphire, Ruby, Jade, and surprisingly, the Iolite. Judging from her reaction and indifference, the Iolite seemed to be a horrible person.

Sapphire stepped to the side to allow the stream of miffed gems to leave. Pearl watched nervously as the gems went by-a surprising number of them asymmetrical. In her era of existence, only symmetrical gems created after a certain point were allowed to live. That point had been a good five millennia before Pearl was manufactured. Almost all of these gems had their gems placed on hands, eyes, hips, wrists, ankles, sides, and shoulders. All except for the Coral, who was probably significantly younger than the rest. They had only figured out how to manufacture Organics recently.

After this, everything blended together. From boarding the pod next to Amethyst, to catching a glimpse of Steven and Connie, to being attacked by tiny, pastel blue ships, to being tailed by white ships, it all seemed to blur into one massive, silent trip. She was barely even in the present.

She was remembering the worst parts of the rebellion. Of her friends shattering, of Garnet separating with gems millimeters from being shattered with Rose nowhere nearby, of Sapphire, the only decent Sapphire, Earth's Sapphire, singing that horribly familiar melody in the midst of fire and shattered gems-

It trickled quietly from her lips, wordless, barely making to her own ears. The noise outside was deafening. But somehow, she had a feeling that Steven heard it. She caught a glimpse of dark brown hair that could only belong to one person in this half of the galaxy.

 _Connie._

So they were alive after all. This was good-better than Pearl had imagined. Maybe, somehow they would win this.

The melody strengthened. So did the noise outside. But now a couple of terrified Gems looked up, recognizing the melody, perhaps. Sapphire had sung it quite a bit. It didn't really matter to Pearl, though. It was strangely...comforting, to sing what she had heard so often during the Rebellion. It dropped to a whisper once more. The noise outside became deafening. Pearl realized they were probably entering the thin atmosphere of Homeworld. Everyone fell silent. The melody stopped as soon as it started.

She smiled faintly. Maybe it didn't matter that much, anyway. She would probably be shattered in this new war...but Steven would win undoubtedly.

She trusted him.

* * *

 **Huh. Last time I stayed up until four in the morning I was drawing. Anyway, all of the chapters in this fic will be named after FOB songs. I dunno if anyone noticed this.**

 **Wow. I need to write a Pearl one-shot. Right now. That'll fun. I love making paralells. Also, there was like a ton of foreshadowing in this chapter.**


	7. When You Realize and Say, I'm Alone

**From here on out, titles aren't gonna make sense. Fair warning. hahanoijustliketheevangelionnamingscheme**

* * *

When Amethyst opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was.

The first thing she noticed was that she could sense a huge amount of other Gems in the area-she had never sensed this many in her entire life. Well, she had only been able to sense a maximum of four up until recently, throughout her entire life.(Garnet didn't seem like an individual, she seemed like two gems when sensing her-oh shit, there went her composure.)

The second thing she noticed was the fact that the atmosphere was mildly thinner and was very dry. The third thing she noticed was the fact that she was in a prison surrounded by tough(or at least tall) Gems with weapons out, all looking rather...deadpanly subordinate.

It made her sick to the stomach.

Amethyst sat in the corner of her tiny cell. She stared into the black stars on her knees, her only reminder of who had agreed to take her in. Well...not only. She had Steven. She had her life. And she still had the tiny part of her that clung to the fact that Rose had almost loved her like family-not quite, and sometimes her mild annoyance at Amethyst's constant roughhousing showed through her near-perfect facade of constant kindness.

But Amethyst didn't know how desperately Rose had clung to that image of power. Of being the kind leader in the depth of the unknown, when in reality she was just as terrified as the rest of them. More, even.

"Yes, this is the Amethyst from Crystal System Colony Planet Earth, General."

She looked up at the sound of her name. Peridot was standing there, looking self-centered and annoying. She was talking to the short-haired Ruby from before, who looked disdainfully down at Amethyst. She was even taller than she had thought. Probably taller than Garnet. Peridot looked exactly the same. Limping. With one foot.

Amethyst let the corners of her mouth turn up slightly at how Peridot was wobbling dangerously.

"You are dimissed," Ruby said, watching Peridot stumble off before turning to face Amethyst. She raised her eyebrows slightly. "The hell are you smiling for?"

Amethyst jumped to her feet. "Dunno."

Ruby entered a few digits into a keypad next to her cell. The yellow force field turned to static and disappeared. Before Amethyst had the chance to run, Ruby grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and held her at arm's length. "Ugh, this is what I hate about every defective Quartz ever. You're all so...weird."

Amethyst twisted around, throwing a kick at Ruby, who didn't even blink. She raised an eyebrow, looking mildly amused. "Case in point."

"Ahem."

Ruby spun around to face a miffed-looking purple gem, a lavender bubble with a small blue-violet gem inside, hovering above her hand.

"Insubordination, Taaffiete?"

"N-No, Sir."

Ruby blinked rudely. "Good. You can get going now."

Taaffiete turned around and left, looking extremely annoyed. Ruby left the hallway as well, holding Amethyst at arm's length the entire time. At one point, Amethyst thought she caught a glimpse of Pearl, before she realized that the Pearl was wearing an unfamiliar uniform with a large amount of Diamonds, being dragged along by a muddy green-brown Gem with the familiar Yellow Diamond uniform.

Relatable. Only she had an uncomfortable situation, what with the Gem dragging her along looked a lot like one of her late friends. Amethyst looked up at the vibrant crimson Gem who looked decidedly pissed.

"Um...can't you just, like, handcuff me or something?"

"No."

"Um...grab the back of my shirt and let me walk?"

"No."

"Put me down and let me walk like an adult?"

"Hell no."

Amethyst looked at the ground. The floor was a pale, watered down yellow. Quite pretty, if you think about it. She looked out a window they passed-and was honestly kind of horrified by what she saw.

It was a vast metropolis of steel and light, underneath a dull red-brown sky. Ships were constantly going back and forth, a painfully bright sun gleaming down on the steel city. Amethyst couldn't help but say what she thought. "Holy hell..."

Ruby looked down. "Excuse me?"

"Did you kill your planet?"

"Yes. It used to have abundant life, like Earth...before the hyper-advanced species developed a polymorphic sentient Gemstone. Things kinda got out of hand after that. Seriously, I was there for the last half of the War of Planetary Succession. It stunk. After winning, we flat-out built Kindergartens and cities all over the place. We dried up the oceans, melted the ice caps, made some places super radioactive, and kinda...um...turned a three-hundred-mile square area into a massive crater that seriously messed up the entire planet."

Amethyst blinked.

"...And you're doing this to Earth?"

Ruby let out a coarse laugh. "Ha! Your planet has an expiration date-and it sure as hell is too soon to developed any new Kindergartens."

"Wait, what? What are you doing to my planet, you piece of-" Amethyst felt Ruby's hand lodge firmly in front of her mouth. "Shut up, wimp."

"Ruby!"

The tall red Gem spun around to face the Sapphire from before, who looked decidedly pissed off-wait, was Pearl behind her? _Her_ Pearl? Not a precise copy?

"You're supposed to transport the Amethyst to me. Hand her over. Immediately."

Ruby gritted her teeth angrily, dropping Amethyst to the ground. "Fine. Any more orders?"

Sapphire stared coldly down at Ruby and Amethyst. "You're being deployed to the front lines. All offensive-type Elites must be to landing-section AB-1 in approx. ten hours. Report to Transport Vehicle AE-7 immediately."

Ruby stood up and stormed off, mumbling something about how weird other Elites are, or whatever. But it didn't matter. Pearl was okay. Part of her family was okay. Bleeding, murderous look in her eyes, and on the verge of a complete mental breakdown, but still...she was alive.

One down. One/two to go. Connie wasn't really...um...family.

Oh, shit. Connie's mom and dad...

Well...at least she was probably okay. Er, maybe. Is she even okay? Or did the lack of water kill her already? Amethyst had no idea how long it had been.

* * *

 _Homeworld's twin moons shine bright tonight. I'm astonished that I can see again. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to move. Maybe..._

 _Maybe I can go back home. If my home wasn't simply...a dream in my tiny, artificial subconscious._

 _Ah well...At least I will never have to see my mistakes again._


	8. Revolution Shall Survive

**Yes. I'm still alive.**

* * *

Pearl didn't feel anything when she saw Amethyst. Relief, maybe. Joy.

Amethyst seemed caught between joy and shock. But Pearl couldn't bring herself to smile, even as Amethyst did. Sapphire was blabbing about rules and uniform, and something about inter-planetary war going on. And they were seriously trying to take back a long-deserted planet, using up valuable gempower and machinery?

Fools. All of them.

Or maybe she was too used to Humanity. Humans and Gems were indeed, completely different creatures. It was true that at one point, she had been exactly like every other Pearl. That is, before she was attacked by a recently corrupted Gem and summoned her spear with pure intellect. She had defeated it long before a low-ranking Elite had reached the area. They had been disgusted with her at that point-sent her off to a recently discovered planet with all the other Gems they hated, including Rose, Ruby, and Sapphire.

She looked at the ground again. Pale yellow, the color of the star on her chest-before it was stained red. Maybe she could fix herself up. Not now, though. Anytime but now, and anywhere but here. Maybe she'd wait until she inevitably got poofed again.

"Pearl?"

She looked up at the sound of her name being whispered in her ear.

"...Yes, Amethyst?"

"Um...Are you okay? You're, like, bleeding all over the place...I didn't even know you had blood, to be honest."

Pearl shrugged. "About as okay as the rest of this planet." She hadn't even looked up to address her friend. She looked at Sapphire's jet-black heels instead. They clashed sickeningly with the watered-down yellow floor.

She didn't need to see the future to know that there was know way this would end well.

* * *

Sapphire dragged the two runts along behind her. She narrowed her one eye behind her curtain of straight, white hair, unsure if she should interrupt the whispered exchange behind her. It ended before she made a decision-thankfully. It would've been annoying to have them mumble apologies...attack her...whatever. She could take them down blindfolded with one hand tied behind her back, while doing the activity Ruby referred to as...Sleep...

After a little while, she stopped at a heavy yellow door. Everything in this place was yellow-it made Sapphire stand out like a fusion in a crowd. She messed around with the tech on the door for about ten seconds, and it slid into the wall. She stepped inside, dragging the two defective Gems behind her as the door slammed shut.

The gray hallway lined with tidily marked doors stretched on for about five hundred feet. Sapphire skimmed through the labels on the doors, muttering under her breath. "Prison...prison...prison...How many prisons does this place even need? Ah! Here we go." She let go of the two defects and pivoted around to face them. "Pearl A793. This is your temporary holding station before the bigwigs decide what to do with you." Sapphire opened the door beside her, revealing a plain white room with a single chair in the middle, with hidden lights casting a long shadow from the lonely object in the center. "Oh, and a word of advice-remove that stain off your Garb. It would probably tarnish my reputation to have a prisoner looking like _you._ "

She shoved the Pearl into the room, slamming the door behind her. Dull clanks signified that the many internal locks had worked.

"Now, as for you..."

* * *

Pearl looked around the sparse white room. The door was barely visible, the hairline crack the only thing that indicated that this room hadn't simply been built around her. She sat on the chair, looking down at the blood on her chest. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. The wound and the stain disappeared, her clothes returning to perfection. She smoothed back her hair, crossed her legs and arms, and started waiting, a cold expression masking her face.

It felt like an eternity, staring unblinking at the spot where she knew the door was. She took in tiny details about the rest of the room as she waited-the entire thing was perfectly smooth and rounded, with no semblance of a right angle. She felt a random need to stand out as much as possible. She gritted her teeth as she heard a muffled clunk and the door opened.

A mid-height pink gem with vibrant, straight hair that fell to her shoulders stood before her. The gem was wearing the same uniform as Jasper and Peridot. She had an extremely bossy expression on her face. "Hello, A793. I am here to question you on your abilities, so that we can determine what sector to place you in." She raised an eyebrow at Pearl's sudden glare. "I have a name. Not a number."

The gem laughed a dry, brittle laugh as the door slammed shut behind her. "Oh, and so do I. Names aren't nessecary. Gem production as advanced to the point that we're considering expanding to more than the surrounding three galaxies. Of course, we generally stick to our own, and the one nearest-you would call them Andromeda and the...erm...Milky Way, was it? Of course, we have also adopted the name of Andromeda. It has a nice ring to it-don't you think?"

Pearl kept glaring. "I do think it's pleasant. However, I strongly believe that you should stick to your own galaxy-you wouldn't want to go down in history as a mass murderer, would you?" Pearl smiled coldly at the pink Gem's angered expression.

"I see you're..quite good at...insults. That takes a step towards Warrior..." She jotted something down. "Now, would you be so kind as to stand up?" Pearl complied. She kept her arms crossed, glaring down at the Gem, who now realized that she was small in comparison to her prisoner, at her height of about 5"7, where Pearl stood almost a foot taller than that.

"Well, first we must test your intellectual abilities. Now, could you answer these..." She projected a hologram that portrayed extremely difficult math problems that a normal person-or gem-would take about thirty minutes each to do. "Now, if you can't, don't get frust-"

"The answers are as follows: Ten. Nine. Forty-three. Eighteen. Negative five. One million, three thousand and five hundred ninety-nine..."

Progressively more difficult questions popped up, ranging from mathematics, to strategy, to just plain logic and word play. Eventually the pink Gem grew tired of Pearl answering each and every question correctly. She got rid of the hologram. "Anyway, Let's move on to fighting, shall we? Now, we're going to test you against progressively more difficult, holographic opponents." Pearl nodded as she snapped twice. Impressive tech. Holograms generated instantly. The first ran at her. Her spear appeared in a flash of light and the hologram was gone. Opponent after opponents came at her-eventually, it got to her level and she began to tsruggle a little.

She made it to about as strong as a slightly sub-average Quartz before she was disarmed and the holographic sword passed through her gem. The opponents disappeared. The pink Gem stepped over to Pearl, who sat exhausted upon the floor. "Very well. This makes your assignment clear."

Pearl narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"I am not under authority to disclose that information."

Pearl jumped up, her spear appearing one more. "Tell me."

The pink Gem took a step back, her eyes widening. "A793, you will suffer serious consequences for this action. This is being taped. Your results or being watched by Yellow Diamond right now. I request that you-" Pearl took a step forward. "Do you think I care! I've already fought against Homeworld once-and I'm not afraid to do it again. Now get me out of this prison cell this instant!"

The pink Gem narrowed her eyes. "You are a Pearl. I, however, am a Pink Sapphire. I could shatter your Gem in a split second-I strongly advise that you restrain yourself."

Pearl took a step backwards. "You're right. I should restrain myself-after all, I am almost ten thousand years old. I should be mature enough not to feel emotion- _right, Pink Sapphire?"_ Those last three words were laced with venom.

 _Why am I doing this? This isn't me. Maybe I'm just venting. If I keep acting like this I'm going to get myself killed._

Pearl shook her head, gritting her teeth.

"My life has been prolonged out of sheer weakness for long enough. If I die, it's not going to be by a corrupted Gem-it's going to be fighting. Understand? I will never submit to Homeworld. Even if you kill me, I will never admit to you anything. You hear me?"

Pink Sapphire looked genuinely terrified, staring down at the spear pointed at her neck. Maybe new Homeworld Gems weren't as false as she thought-maybe they were just as flawed as the universe was. Maybe, there was a vague chance of triumph in this hopeless war.

Pearl smiled coldly.

* * *

 **I'm weirdly proud of this. I typed like a thousand words of it in about an hour so...**

 **Anyway, I'm sorry about the..uh...month and a quarter, almost, break. I actually have something resembling a reason-I started watching Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which will now influence me severely. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, and I wish you a Merry Christmas in advance! Now, to work on new one-shots for War Stories, and a few new chapters for Can't Look Into Our Eyes, and probably a conclusion to my Warriors fics...**

 **Please R &R!**


	9. We're Just Waiting for Nothing

**My new cover for this is better than the show itself. *Curses LOGH for being so amazingly pretty and for my current obsession with space***

* * *

Amethyst landed with a thud as Sapphire dropped her in front of a metal door, labeled in an incoherent language.

"Well? Go in, Quartz." She looked up at the seven-foot-tall Gem who towered over her. Unlike Garnet or Rose's feeling of kindness, despite their towering height, this Gem seemed...different somehow. Like every bad part of the Crystal Gem Sapphire and Ruby were mashed into one, overwhelmingly powerful, emotionless Gem.

Amethyst glared up at the blue Gem and made a fart noise.

"I am assuming that is a primitive form of Earth obscenities." Sapphire yanked the door open-no high-tech security on this one-and kicked Amethyst into a loud, messy room full of huge and muscular Gems. She looked around at them-orange striped, like Jasper, purple, like her, pale pink, similar to Rose...

Damn. A room full of Quartz's.

A striped brown-and-gray Gem was the first to notice her. She was probably eight feet tall, less muscular than the others but still visibly strong, with short, rough-cut hair covering one eye in a knotted mess. She had brilliant yellow eyes, a standard Homeworld uniform-and a bemused expression on her face. "Hey, did anyone drag in some weak planner in here? I think one of the Elites might've dumped her." Amethyst bit her lip. "Anyway, what kinda Gem are you?" Amethyst stared angrily at the gem embedded on the tall brown Gem's chest. "...Amethyst."

"You? Uh-go over there to the rest of the purple ones." Amethyst stood up, brushed herself off, and jogged over to the other Amethysts. They were talking, arm-wrestling, and doing other random things. All of them were way taller than her, like Jupiter next to Pluto.

"Uh...Hi?"

A couple of them turned to face Amethyst. "Hi. How's it going?" Amethyst took no time to think of answer. "My friend is dead and I wanna go home. You?" The other Quartz stared blankly for a second, leaning against the wall. "Um, I've been stuck in here for about a century, but I have like a ton of friends."

"Yeah. I have three that are in the same galaxy as I am."

"Uh...Where are you from?"

"Earth."

"..."

"Milky Way."

"..."

"Uh..." Amethyst paused, struggling to remember what the Homeworld Gems she knew had referred to Earth as. "Facet Five? Quartz Kindergarten? Thousand-year-long rebellion? Humans? Ring any bells?"

The other Amethyst straightened up. "Oh! Yeah, that's where I came from. Could've sworn that was in Andromeda..." Amethyst raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, newbie, how many planets you've been stationed at before?"

"Zero. I've been on Earth my entire life."

The other Amethyst jumped slightly, her loud voice hitting Amethyst like a freight train. "Woah, dude! You're one of those stupid rebels!"

"Uh...I didn't fight in the war, but I do hate Homeworld, and whatever galaxy this is..."

Amethyst looked up in surprise at the other Amethyst saluting. She spun around to face a Gem that was slightly taller than the rest in the room, with a must narrower build. She had pale green skin, long, flowing pink hair, and a cold smile. "Amethysts 789, 712, 405, 13, and numberless Earth defect to come with me. You will be partnering up with the Elites to wipe out the current corrupted Gems rampaging the surface of Yellow Diamond's territory section planet Heeler 819. These orders are effective immediately."

Numberless Earth defect. Fits her perfectly.

The other Amethyst said something with plenty of jargin that Amethyst didn't understand. After about fourty-five seconds, the other Gem addressed her. "Hey, Numberless. I'll give you some training. You've probably never fought before, righto?"

Amethyst responded by pulling out her whip on the spot, clearly shocking everyone around her. "Actually, I lost track of fights at one fifty."

"...Oh. Dude, how old are you?"

"I dunno. Four thousand five hundred, maybe?"

"Damn, you're young."

* * *

Ruby stared aimlessly at the ceiling. It was perfectly smooth, of course. And yellow. There sure was a lot of yellow in this Empire. This city in particular was very yellow-and perfectly clean, unlike some outer colonies she had been to. Despite the dryness and constant duststorms of Homeworld, the city that held Yellow Diamond's throne was protected by a force field to maintain it's gleaming appearance in the midst of a red desert. On other planets, in other cities, however, it was all a total mess. Everyone was perfectly orderly-and they had no idea how to keep their city free of the dirt and grime of the planets. Even the Space Stations and Fortresses were decaying, at this point.

Ruby sighed, sinking further into her chair. She had been all throughout the Universe-from her home galaxy Triangulum, to Andromeda, to that shipwreck known as the Milky Way. No rule over more than one or two planets, no interstellar missions, no living creatures on other planets. Not even the two closest, the ones named after those stupid objects of worship. Aphrodite and Ares, were they?

"Are you frustrated?"

She looked over at a pale pink Gem who stood, calmly smiling and leaning over to Ruby from a bit behind and to the side. "...No. Just bored."

"We will be departing in ten minutes." Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I know, Pink S." She looked up to face the pink Gem. "Hey, how are you not bored? We've been sitting here like all day." Pink Sapphire smiled her calm, sweet, and mature smile. Ruby couldn't help but smile back, albeit faintly, waiting for her friend's response. "No, I'm not bothered by things like this. I am designed to be patient, as combat assistance."

Ruby grinned. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I, after all, am a front-line typa Gem. You're way nicer and more patient than me." Pink Sapphire maintained her smile. "That's a lie. You're plenty nice. You just refuse to show it, and blindly follow Blue Sapphire and Jade." Ruby jumped, stifling an indignant response. "Uh-no way! I'm a leader!"

"I apologize."

"...Dude. Stop apologizing. It doesn't suit you."

"I understand. I apolo-er, never mind."

"...Okay, it does kinda suit you. Forget I said anything."

* * *

 **Just for the record, Pink Sapphire's weird smile looks like Siegfried Kircheis. Word of advice-don't scroll if you look up a picture. And yes I made her up on the spot. I think she has, like, a bun and looks like Annie Leonhardt or something...And yes. This character is inspired by a meme character.  
**

 **"Are you frustrated?"**


	10. Turn Around and Look

**Hi. This chapter is exactly two thousand words long.**

* * *

Amethyst stared at the floor unseeingly. She was sitting on a shelf that ran around the circular room. Truth be told, she wasn't a hundred percent sure where she was. She knew she was in space somewhere, on a huge, triangular ship, but beside that, she didn't know if she was in a galaxy, or the space between, or some science fictiony paradox at the warp speed she knew was going at. There wasn't even a window to check out of, despite her burning curiosity. She couldn't help but ask one of the nearby Gems. She turned to the only one that looked remotely nice.

"Hey, where are we right now?"

The Gem turned to face Amethyst. She was pale pink, with white hair in a bun covering one of her eyes. She had surprisingly pretty eyes-the one showing, at least. She was wearing the same uniform as the Ruby and Sapphire from before.

"I'm not sure. Maybe you could get permission to go to the bridge, ah...Amethyst, I presume?"

Amethyst nodded. "I could try, but probably no-o-ack!" She jumped behind the kindly pink Gem, who turned around to face the Gem behind her. Ruby. Amethyst hid behind(or in the pink gem's case, in front) of her legs, attempting to shield herself from that red Gem she hated.

"Admiral." The pink Gem spun around, saluting.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you? Just call me Ruby, Pink S. S'not like you'll get arrested or anything." Pink S(whatever that meant) lowered her arm, seemingly surprised and awkward. "I apologize, A-erm, Ruby...ma'am." Pink blushed slightly at her failure to drop titles.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Well, at least it's better. Hey, is that the Amethyst from Earth I unwilling got dragged into fighting?"

Amethyst cringed.

"Possibly. I'm not sure of her exact origin, although it is clearly a non-Diamond Trinity powered location. Who is in control of your origin planet?" Amethyst straightened up slightly, stepping out from behind the stranger. "Humans. Ain't no one person in charge. It has democracy AND monarchy. Uh, and other systems too..." Ruby snickered. "There's no way there's an intelligent non-Gem species out there. Oh wait, was that a settlement that we landed by?"

At this, Amethyst got pretty defensive. "Actually, the Humans that you look, like, exactly like, have landed four probes on the second-closest planet, which is, y'know, thirty-three million miles away. They've also done an unmanned flyby of Pluto recently, and um...they've put a few humans on their Moon, and they have a few people in space right now, on their International Space Station..."

Ruby blinked in surprise. "Dang. That is pretty impressive. But...uh...damn, this is embarrassing...what's International?" Amethyst shuffled her feet for a moment. "Uh...it's like, when...if there was a division that worked with different systems-" Ruby interrupted abruptly. "Oh, we have that." Amethyst didn't acknowledge the comment. "Uh, anyway, if you look at how they relate to each-other, especially with more than two, that's international...I mean, the Earth country I lived in is America, which borders Canada and Mexico..."

Ruby nodded. "Oh. So we're in an international war."

"Actually, that's just a war. If it's a war within one country-nation-division, it's called a Civil War."

"Oh. Man, Humans make things complicated."

"Think that's hard? You should learn written Chinese...the old version." Amethyst grinned at this. Believe it or not, she was actually pretty good at other languages.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Really? How are Human languages difficult? Sure, we invented one and adopted it, but how could other ones possibly be even resembling complicated?" Amethyst responded be promptly shifting into a Chinese/Kanji character.

"...And that means?"

"Politician. Or rather, as me and Garnet called it, Man Sitting On His Ass In A House."

Ruby cracked up pretty seriously at this. The pink Gem looked on disapprovingly, clearly wishing she could calm down her superior somewhat.

"Gem...you have a pretty great sense of humor, Quartz. Pretty chrome, if I say so myself." Amethyst responded by staring blankly at her hated enemy. "Hey, why're you staring at me like that? What did I ever do to you?"

"Try killing my friend, maybe?"

Ruby blinked. "Uh, I didn't actually have a part in that. Sa-Erm, the Fleet Admiral and Her Majesty Yellow Diamond were the only ones who fought Garnet." Ruby didn't let Amethyst speak in the slight lull in her speech. "Yes, I know her. I've fought her twice, and I regret both times. That chick has-um, had, some pretty major brute force. Like, I mean, my Gem is way harder than hers, but she cracked it really bad a few millenia ago."

Amethyst blinked. "...You knew her?"

"Yeah. And-don't tell any of the other Admirals, but-I respected her." At this, Amethyst's eyes widened a little. "Um...what?"

Ruby nodded briefly. "Yeah. Despite being a fusion of two ridiculously weak Gems, she was fairly strong...and, I think this is breaking a few laws, but...She was a really, really good person. She made all of us Homeworld Gems-'cept for Pink Sapphire here-look like sewer rats, while she was a golden retriever or something."

Amethyst didn't say anything. Was it really possible that Ruby wasn't as bad as she seemed? What she said was true-well, mostly. Amethyst wasn't sure if Ruby and Sapphire had been weak or not-they had been weaker than her, but she had no idea of Gem averages. As for being a good person...well, that was as true as the fact the reality exists. Amethyst blinked back a few tears at this.

"Are you crying, wimp?"

Okay, yeah. She was a total jerk.

* * *

Pearl held her spear at the Sapphire's neck. The pink Gem stared back angrily, the Gem in her chest beginning to gleam. Pearl couldn't help but wonder what this Gem's weapon was. She knew that Sapphire-the Sapphire that she had known, not the multidtudes of others-had been spiked knuckledusters. But what could this Gem's...?

A dagger, about seven inches long, with a gem-encrusted hilt and a gleaming, transparent, pink-tinted blade. It looked right in the Gem's hand, but it was clearly no match for Pearl's four-foot-long spear. Pink Sapphire seemed pretty confident, however, even considering her distinct disadvantage.

It only took a second. They both made a lung forward, and then Pearl's spear was completely through Pink Sapphire's neck, with the knife marking a deep cut next to Pearl's Gem. The pink Gem disappeared in a flash of pink smoke. Pearl caught the circular, triangle-faceted Gem in her hand seconds before it hit the ground. She looked down on it for a second before bubbling the Gem and sending it to who knows where. She tried for the temple, but if it didn't quite make it...well, Pink Sapphire's loss, huh?

The lighting suddenly switched to red.

 _"Alert in Sector Five. Alert in Sector Five."_

Pearl's eyes widened. "...Oh."

She rammed into the door with her shoulder, throwing all of her weight into it. She managed to wedge it open a crack with the tip of her spear after a few moments. She crammed her foot and hand into the crack, pushing in opposite directions with all her might. After a moment, she was able to see the amazingly complicated steel, diamond-reinforced locks and bars, interlaced with wires and computer chips. She muttered an obscenity and jumped back, letting the door slam shut.

Pearl stared at the door for a moment, and made up her mind. She projected about ten holographic versions of herself into the room, and changed all of her clothes to blue. She couldn't do anything about her hair except for a scarf to try and hide it, but it would do for now. As the door issued muffled clangs, she fell to her knees, with her right side pressed against the wall. She swiftly projected another hologram to stand in front of her, shielding her somewhat.

Three armor-clad Gems jumped into the room, with helmets hiding their faces and weapons in their hands. They paused, their body language showing surprise at the amount of enemies, who suddenly encircled them, pushing them away from the door. It only took a second for them to decapitate most of them, but that was more than enough time for Pearl to jump out of the open door and break into a run down the hallway. The pale blue scarf covering most of her hair blew away, landing softly on the ground behind her. She wiped a bit of blood from the cut on her forehead, flinging it against the yellow wall.

A couple Gems tried to stop her, but she responded by shapeshifting into a small bird, escaping their grasps. She darted around the hallway erratically, trying to avoid the Gems chasing after her. After what felt like an eternity, she crashed through what felt like the only window, shapeshifting back into her normal form and rolling to the side, behind a metal container of some sort, breathing hard. She bit her lip, watching the the Gems run straight by the broken window, not noticing the shattered, clear plastic. Apparently, Glass had been replaced.

Pearl turned her eyes to the city. They seemed to be a little ways away from the main city, as she could actually see the huge building that served as Yellow Diamond's residence. The tops of the towers were blurred by distance, although no clouds obscured the tops. The blindingly bright, blue sky with the single, small sun in the distance burning down, did nothing to stop the cold hitting her like a freight train. It had to be below zero. Although Gems aren't generally affected by cold, no one could deny that it wasn't extremely, even worryingly, cold on Homeworld.

 _Oh, no! Steven and Connie are out here somewhere!_

Pearl started running for the main city. She switched the colors on her clothes back to normal somewhere along the way, not caring how obvious she would look in a crowd. It didn't take her very long to trip and fall down a hill in the deep sand. She rammed face-first into a force field, the energy knocking her back a few feet. She lay there for a moment, slowly coming to the realization that her gem was slightly cracked. She reached up, her hand resting on the crack lightly.

"Oh..."

She rested her palm gently over her Gem, her eyes closing for a second as the harsh wind blew sand onto her. She opened her eyes a crack, staring up at the distant dry, cold air around her felt strange. She remembered, now, that the atmosphere was thicker than Earth's, with minimum water for organic life, and less radiation from the Sun than Earth had. Instead of looking like the size of a quarter, like Earth's sun, Homeworld's sun looked the size of a child's fingernail.

"It's been a while."

Pearl's eyes widened at the voice. She stood up abruptly, not wanting to turn around for the fear that it was her imagination. That nothing would be there. That the voice was just the illusion of a desperate Pearl with a cracked Gem, desperate for someone to serve. After what felt like an eternity, she turned her head to face the Gem behind her. Her body turned a full ninety degrees. It felt like another five thousand years until she spoke.

"You're alive."

* * *

 **And you're not getting the answer to that for a few chapters. I'm switching back to Amethyst, Connie, and Steven. I'll probably do some Pink Sapphire(the nice one) POV, and some Ruby as well. And yes. I'm running short of Gems with easy names to remember, so I'm using a veritable shit ton of Sapphires.  
**


	11. Enemies of my Home

**...I think we all needed to think through The Answer as our headcanons were crushed.**

* * *

"You aren't a Gem."

Connie stared up defiantly at the tall gray Gem standing before her. "What ever gave you that impression, genius?"

"My name is Gray Moonstone. Not genius. I, however, appreciate the sarcasm. You are a human, correct?" Connie nodded angrily, feeling that this Gem didn't dignify a response. "And you need nourishment and eight-to-ten hour periods of sleep, correct?"

Connie nodded once more.

"What is your number?" Connie leaned back angrily. "Number? Humans don't have numbers. We have names. And mine is Connie." Gray Moonstone nodded. "Good, good. Very well then, Connie. I will have to give you a number for records. From now on, you will be referred to as number Eleven."

Connie took a step back. "Wait, eleven? There were other humans on here before us?"

"...Yes, we miscalulated the needed amount of nourishment and didn't give them ample supply of water. Your bodies are roughly sixty percent water, so we assumed that you could survive more than roughly seven rotations of the Planet." Connie shook her head. "No, we can only go three days most of the time. Wait a minute-how big is Homeworld-um, your Homeworld, I mean?"

"Seven thousand, nine hundred and seventy-five miles."

"How fast does it spin?"

"One full rotation per twenty-four Earth hours."

"Oh. Same as Earth." At this, Gray Moonstone leaned forward on the table. "Could you please tell me more about your Earth?" Connie looked up, her eyes widening for a moment. "Okay, sure. Why not. Knowing the danger it's in won't affect you stupid Gems at all."

"The Earth is 92.96 million miles away from it's Sun, which is a Dwarf Star 432,474 miles large. It is roughly halfway into it's lifespan. Earth is the third planet away from the Sun. There are eight, formerly nine planet's in my solar syst-"

"And what happened to the ninth?"

"It was reclassified as a dwarf planet."

"Oh."

"Anyway, there's probably another planet that we haven't noticed before now. The Solar System is gonna be knocked around the galaxy when Andromeda collides with the Milky Way. Earth will become a lifeless, flaming ball with boiling seas when my Sun burns out a a few billion years. It will be hit by a doomsday asteroid the same size as the one that wiped out the former dominate species. It will come in a few million years. By that point, however, Earth will not be our only habited planet. We are, in fact, under a century away from Lunar and Mars-the second closest planet to us-colonies. We consistently have three to ten people one the Space Station orbiting Earth. We have had six manned Moon landings. We are roughly thirty years away from setting foot on Mars. The first human in space was Yuri Gagarin. The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova. The first human to set foot on the moon was Neil Armstrong. And that's all I'm telling your invading species."

Moonstone sat back in her seat. "Interesting. Humans are decently adapt at developing space travel, yet they harbor immense distrust towards alien species. Your species is very similar to ours." Connie bit her lip. "On our standards, you aren't even alive."

"Excuse me?"

"Our standard of living beings is something that is an animal, with blood, a beating heart, who needs to consume at least sometimes, or a plant, which thrives on sunlight or water. You are holograms. You may think, you may prolong you lifespan the same as we do, but we aren't the same. It took the Crystal Gems thousands of years to be the way they are now-and for you information, a human is incredibly lucky to live to be over hundred years. It is amazingly rare as well."

"Thank you. Now, tell me..." Moonstone leaned forward on her elbows. "How old are you?"

"...Twelve and three quarters..."

"Twelve? That's all? You Humans really have short lifespans for you to be at this level of intelligence, despite being fully mortal."

"...And I'm taking that as a personal offense."

"Please, do not."

"Too late!"

* * *

Steven stared at the floor of his tiny cell. He wondered when the Homeworld Gems surrounding him would realize that he needed food to survive. Pretty soon, hopefully...He didn't want him-or Connie- to starve to death. He knew that Connie was okay, at least for the time being. He had seen her about three hours previously. But he hadn't seen Amethyst or Pearl for almost a week, at this point. He missed them. He missed Earth. He missed Beach City, Sadie, Lars, Onion, The Cool Kids, the Frymans, the Pizzas, , Connie's parents, Dad...

Garnet.

Steven shut his eyes as tightly as he could. He did his best not to cry, but despite his efforts, it was all for naught.

"Hey, don't be like that."

Steven opened one eye. A slim blue Gem with a bob and a standard, caped Yellow Diamond uniform knelt beside him. Her voice was hardly more than a whisper. She seemed very kind-and very familiar. Then it struck Steven.

"...Are you a Pearl?"

The unfamiliar Gem smiled, her eyes closing and her head angling to one side. "Let's just say that I'm a Pearl that was given a second chance, even when I didn't deserve one." She lifted a bubbled Gem from the inside of her cloak, popping the bubble and briefly holding it in front of the scanner before bubbling it once more and sending it away. She grabbed Steven by the arm and darted off. He stumbled after her, hopelessly confused.

"Wait! Why are you helping me?"

The Pearl shushed him, keeping up her swift pace even as alarms began to sound.

 _...Oh boy. This is gonna be bad._

* * *

 **Anyway, apologies about the horribly late update.  
**

 **FORGIVE ME**

 **hahahaha No. Stevenbomb 3.0+1.0:The (headcanons) End kinda killed me and you know what? I only get to make that reference once in the span of this series. LET ME HAVE MY WEEABOO JOY(believing in a sign of ZETA)**


End file.
